Life is all about experiences, chances to make memories that you will treasure for years to come and tonight was an opportunity to see a band that shaped my musical direction back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, you may have heard of them, an indie rock trio from Boston going by the name The Lemonheads…..

I saw (and met) Evan Dando from The Lemonheads back in 2007 in Glasgow when he performed at the Oran Mor, the show seemed rather rushed and with little between song banter, you might have left the show thinking that Evan didn’t care about his fans. The performance was sub-par in my opinion, he kept on forgetting lyrics and guitar parts and there’s only so much slack you can cut a musician before you start thinking to yourself that they have reached the end of their road. I hoped for everyone’s sake that tonight would be different.

We arrived at the venue armed with the knowledge that Evan would kick off the entertainment with an acoustic solo set, followed by drums and bass joining him on stage to perform their seminal 1992 album ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ in its entirety, followed by another bunch of classic Lemonheads tracks and selected covers that Evan is particularly fond of. This is where we faced a dilemma….. We had a photo pass for the first three songs only which would be of Evan, playing solo. Whilst this is never a bad thing, there’s only a certain number of shots you can get away with of the same subject until the readers start to flag so we made contact with their tour manager via the super-friendly staff on the box office to arrange to enter the pit when the whole band took to the stage, making our photographs that little bit more varied.

Happy that we had made the effort to get the best photos we could, we entered the room to check out the support act

On the poster, there was one support act listed (Bass Drum of Death) so I naturally assumed that the first band on stage was them, it wasn't....

The first act WAS Alex Lipinski who was joined on stage by his brother Adam and Graham Nicholls who collectively fed the audience a wholesome diet of electric themed, country tinged americana. Alex's vocals reminded me of Jake Bugg but thankfully, his stage presence was a lot more engaging! One stand out track for me was 'Going Nowhere Fast' which Alex introduced as a song he wrote a couple of years ago when he thought the country was well and truly fucked....and now look at it! Heaps of slide guitar, gorgeous acoustics and sublime vocals was all that was needed to win the hearts of the capacity crowd who had congregated for a very special evening of music, what a way to kick things off!

Following Alex Lipinski was Bass Drum of Death, an American garage-punk outfit helmed by John Barrett. Their fifth album 'Say I Won't' (penned for release in Jan 23) sees Barrett back home in Oxford, Mississippi and also back with that town's prime releaser of records Fat Possum. Their set was chock full of tuneful, scuzzy rock, which managed to come across as tight and well polished despite having a loose and stripped back feel at the same time. A contrast to the opening act but not so that people would have felt lost, these guys kicked ass and I am definitely going to be tracking down they back catalogue ahead of the release of their new long player.

After drinks being refreshed and bladders relieved, it was time for the main event and by this time, place was heaving with fans of the band and of course, their cute frontman Evan Dando who has won the hearts and souls of millions of fans across the world during his sonic tenure as front man of The Lemonheads.

Evan strode on stage to the sound of 'Miss Otis Regrets' (a Cole Porter song), plugged in his Gibson J-45 acoustic and launched into an 8 track acoustic set including 'The Outdoor Type', 'Being Around', 'Ride With Me' and 'Into Your Arms' which all sounded tight, which is something I worried about on the journey up to the gig. The audience sang every word back to Evan and whilst it was hard to gauge his response, you could just see a wry smile break out beneath his floppy hair.

After a killer version of 'Skulls' (Misfits), he was joined by the bass player and drummer, exchanged his acoustic for his jet black Gibson Les Paul and wasted no time in getting straight into his 1992 album 'It's a Shame About Ray' which I will add was performed in its entirety AND in the order it was originally presented (a big bug bear of mine!)

Classics including the title track, 'Rudderless' and 'Alison's Starting to Happen' sounded immense, with Dando kicking a foot switch into action which added a ton more decibels to the proceedings. Slower tracks such as 'My Drug Buddy' and 'Confetti' sounded flawless with the audience getting engaged once again.

The last track from the album 'Frank Mills' saw Dando change the band from The Beatles to Shed Seven which raised a smile and concluded what was for me, a landmark album which should be packaged up alongside other classics and sealed for 50 years only for kids to open in the year 2072 to learn about what music should truly sound like!

The band remained on stage and kicked into a set of 10 more songs which included 'The Great Big No', 'Down About It' and 'Stove'. I was slightly downbeat about them not performing 'Mrs Robinson' but you know what, for the chance to be 20 years old for 90 minutes, I'll happily trade 'Mrs Robinson' any day!

I mentioned earlier that I was worried about the show being a bit of a flop, I couldn't have been more wrong, it was amazing! I sang my heart out, the crowd behaved themselves and everyone had a great night, I can safely say that Evan Dando may have been through the wars in respect of some life choices that he has made along the way but he has managed to keep a lid on it and has come out of the other side with his effortless talent shining through. I'll admit, he's man of very few words but when your music is as incredible as his is, who needs talking?

Word - Steve Muscutt

Photos - Glenn Morrison

Setlist



Evan Dando Acoustic Set

The Outdoor Type (Smudge cover)

Being Around


Divan (Smudge cover)


Hard Drive (Evan Dando song)


Ride With Me


Into Your Arms


Skulls (Misfits cover)



It’s A Shame About Ray Set

Rockin' Stroll


Confetti


It's a Shame About Ray


Rudderless


My Drug Buddy


The Turnpike Down


Bit Part


Alison's Starting to Happen


Hannah & Gabi


Kitchen


Ceiling Fan in My Spoon


Frank Mills (Galt MacDermot cover)



Electric Set (full band)

Hospital


Break Me


The Great Big No


Rick James Style


Frying Pan (Victoria Williams cover)


Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (John Prine cover)

It's All True


Down About It


Stove


If I Could Talk I'd Tell You